cOAlition S’s Rights Confiscation Strategy Continues
By calling its new policy a “Rights Retention Strategy,” cOAlition S is engaging in doublespeak. This strategy actually does exactly the opposite of what it claims.
How COVID-19 is Changing Research Culture: An interview with Daniel Hook, CEO of Digital Science
In this interview Robert Harington asks Daniel Hook (CEO of Digital Science and co-author of the new Digital Science report. How COVID-19 is Changing Research Culture) about his views on fundamental shifts in research culture as a result of the COVID-19 global pandemic.
Utility, Morality, Strategy, and Scholarly Communication
Should the library focus first on serving its local constituency, or on changing the scholarly communication ecosystem? No matter how we answer this question, the implications will be complex.
Helping Researchers Communicate Their Findings to the World: An Interview with Emma Feloy of Research Outreach
Research Outreach is a young company that helps researchers make their work more easily intelligible to a lay audience. Editorial Director Emma Feloy answers some questions about how their service works.
Seeking Sustainability: Publishing Models for an Open Access Age
Open access, scholarly publishing, business models, and sustainability. The past is prologue. The present is complex. @lisalibrarian provides SSP a primer.
Measuring the Success of Transformative Agreements
I asked twelve publisher/customer pairs how they will measure the success of their transformative deals five years from now. The responses were very interesting.
Will the Future of Scholarly Communication Be Pluralistic and Democratic, or Monocultural and Authoritarian?
One way or another, the #scholcomm community is going to choose either a diversity of publishing models or a monoculture, because it can’t have both. How will this choice be made, and by whom?
Reforming Research Assessment: A Tough Nut to Crack
Alison Mudditt looks at the recently released TOP Factor from the Center for Open Science, and the bigger picture of shifting the nature of research assessment.
ACM’s New Open Access Agreements: A Q&A with Scott Delman
A conversation with Scott Delman of ACM about the publisher’s recently-announced deal with four major US research universities.
Scholarly Societies: The Importance of Community
In this article Robert Harington describes how scholarly societies are an indelible part of the research and support system for academics across many disciplines. Robert suggests rather than requiring societies to seek alternative revenue streams beyond publishing, why not turn that argument on its head and more fully support society and academic community life?
Guest Post — Mexican Publishers Face Significant Challenges, but They’re Uniquely Equipped to Meet Them
A guest post from Rachel Maund, Director of Marketability, provides an update about publishing, open access and book trade events in Mexico and Latin America.
Politics and Open Access
Robert Harington explores rumors circulating in recent weeks of an impending US Executive Order focusing on public access to federally funded research and open data.
The Tyranny of Unintended Consequences: Richard Poynder on Open Access and the Open Access Movement
A recent opinion paper by Richard Poynder @rickypo offers analysis and prognostication with regard to the current state and future prospects of #openaccess and the open access movement.
Can Geowalling Save Open Access?
Geowalling open content is proposed yet again. As a thought experiment, @lisalibrarian explores what Plan S principles would be compromised by this tactic.
Leveraging a Transformative Agreement to Incentivize Funder Spend
Can a library/publisher transformative agreement attract funder spend?
@lisalibrarian unpacks the SAGE/UNC-Chapel Hill pilot program.